DR Kultur - DSO Berlin. Christoph Eschenbach returns for generous, but heavy, effete Tchaikovsky fare. 12.12.10. Philharmonie, Berlin.

Christoph Eschenbach his one occasion to conduct DSO Berlin this season accumulated luxurious amount of Tchaikovsky – 105 minutes worth comprising two most celebrated among handful of fantasy-overtures, plus two of three more famous from among six concerto works. Those familiar with Eschenbach’s Tchaikovsky can find it an interesting hybrid of conflicting tendencies.

There is striving for the big arch to the line along lines of Furtwaengler. This often gets mixed with control of sonority - zeroed in on to extent of turning rigid. Mixed in can be numerous finicky touches, underlining – such he might have learned from watching Leonard Bernstein. John Ardoin of the Dallas Morning News close to time Eschenbach accepted the Houston job described his approach to Romantic Slavic program with the Dallas SO that also included Francesca as calcifying.

Romeo and Juliet Overture opened – to altogether indeed best represent Eschenbach still being able to understate some of the above. Much of the playing here maintained a natural expressivity and flow that if not stirring was pleasant. Friar Laurence music opened with stately solemnity – with distension of reaching harp gilded cadences a little more than usual. Measured but throbbing phrasing in the cellos provoked extended pause before fight episode got underway - slightly too careful by half Fight here was tame., with brass dry, strings hardly more flaccid than usual. Much ado resumed over transition through bassoon, other obbligato into the balcony music.

Violins emerged sweetly luminous; winds sang main romantic theme with ease – all only encumbered by percussive touch mediocre harp playing – whoever insisted such accompanying communicate this way. Impressive for Eschenbach was starting reprise of fight music without enveloping it, but much rhetoric was made in making transition in and out of the love music for further skirmish. Only the coda then deflated matters, with excessive extension made out of so much, placement of chords right before its outset indecisive and winds’ refulgent chorale heaved over, massaged – just again a little more so than usual. Much got reached from behind for closing phrases – tone, expression of regret to it all garden variety expressing wish to last forever, but through following deflated chords of course could not.

The model for conductor’s interpretation here of Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto - less that of soloist - is undoubtedly the Karajan legacy of conducting this piece. Karajan might not have anticipated lily gilded arpeggios accompanying the first theme (that really is not but what only survives introduction to first movement intact) consistent oddly with how the passage first got first written. What came across from Karajan individual continues to from Eschenbach willful, eccentric. Karajan was likely most smoothly effective with this on disc when Lazar Berman recorded it for DGG in Berlin circa 1975.

Karajan most likely had most distinctive on disc as soloist Sviatoslav Richter with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra fifteen years earlier. Richter accomplishes as much his own interpretation best heard with Czech Philharmonic conducted by Karel Ancerl (Supraphon). What sank this endeavor here was - brutally evident starting scherzo-like opening of the Exposition - the very brittle touch of Tzimon Barto – dotted rhythms awkwardly clipped in context of much slow pacing here. Restatement in rapidly alternating octaves was messy – to resume similarly much later.

DSO Berlin strings phrased ardent second theme naturally, but Barto by back-phrasing made it sound suitable to hear in a comfy smoking lounge. More editorializing to point of being silly recapitulated it later. Normal tempo then resumed for cellos on the simple flute theme expected. Barto pointed developing arpeggios through resumption of main second theme with considerable ping – with loud crunching thud on lowest chord while playing development thereof. Coming off athletically prefigured chains of descending octaves, answering willful detached speed-up to highlight the display, massage treatment got predictably underway to continue the Development. Barto’s final extensions out of second theme almost grounded it to a standstill – followed soon thereafter by heavily regrouped cadenza – with flute trios, Barto accompanying strings on ‘flute theme’ regrouped and messy, followed by Barto making heavily phlegmatic reach, picked up too this way by DSO brass - for final tutti.

Prinicpal flute Thomas Hecker put forth valiant effort to avoid line sagging – following one of the (erratically) slowest first movements on record – over string pizzicato (helping prepare Barto) lacking pulsation to extent of registering aleatoric. Ah, deconstructionism. Barto and Eschenbach half deceptively made interpretation of the first movement seem more soloist’s than maestro’s, but Barto achieved his first musical phrasing of the evening, starting the second movement – still all moving slowly. Andreas Grunkorn (cello) sustained eloquently singing the main theme – within such obtrusive environment. Scherzo episode, taken moderately instead of fast got heavily fussed over to full extent– brittleness from Barto again paramount – until freely descending arpeggi back into oboe resuming main theme more fussed over than as previously heard.

Barto perceptively caught the peasant character to dance opening the finale – Eschenbach scrupulizing right beneath. Barto emerged more naturally engaged for music to speak for itself than earlier - than having to endure continual fussiness from the podium – mediocre tentative ensemble through winds accompanying his runs. Barto, intermittently also getting waylaid into fussy playing - clipping main theme to breathe new urgency into proceedings at one point – later shed all reserve for show of naked athleticism with ugly tone over stream of octaves - into final full-throated reprise of romantic second theme.

Thirty year old cellist Dmitri Maslennikov, who Eschenbach has clearly enjoyed promoting for some time now, appeared next. Among three thus far playing Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations reviewed on these pages, Maslennikov elicited the most fully rounded tone– especially as compared with Steven Isserlis. He made noble profile of the theme, then light, sprightly his bounce of bow over triplets for first variation. Eschenbach, self-consciously hesitant for segue in(to) the rhapsodic third variation and abetting Maslennikov to make gratuitous spotlighting of rapid spiccato scales up and down the fingerboard in variation right after, maintained decent poise and support for his soloist through most of the remainder of this piece. Maslennikov, unencumbered, provided flowing line, near ideal simplicity through the slower third variation, but got abetted into excessively arching ascending trills into flute led theme reprise making up the fifth variation. A valiantly engaged unusually extended cadenza followed - entirely new or slightly more likely one just seldom these days taken on by anybody else.

Opportunities to arpeggio in half-harmonics, other device enticed Maslennikov again into becoming while freely capable, gratuitous with such. He then settled into making noble shape, restrained pathos of the slower D Minor variation – with much lingering over the accompaniment at a few spots from Eschenbach. Once into finale to the variations, Maslennikov then efficiently but also expressively coasted, played through it, hardly missing anything. Most memorable here was the well rounded tone and profile Maslennikov provided this piece, especially when no artifice in the way to distract him.

Francesca da Rimini succumbed to sounding careful – often compartmentalized in ways one might not have suspected before, except to have listened to either one of Eschenbach’s two recordings – actually on first disc he ever recorded in Houston (paired with Dvorak Ninth). DSO Berlin became most prudent to avoid covering up too much the strings on main agitated theme (hopefully) driving this music forward for its outer sections. Trumpets especially applied good separations to repeated notes – of which John DeWitt & Co in Houston were not fluent at doing when they recorded this. Eschenbach was found - tendency one wishes he could have abandoned long by now.- conducting DSO’s fine principal clarinet introducing romantic middle section theme

Opening Andante lugubre to this came across dry, mildly clipped, antiseptic. Things were slow, became deliberate at gathering steam, with odd siphoning off different sections of DSO Berlin from each other playing and attempting to reply to one another. First Piu mosso during the Introduction – put there to abet hellish winds accumulating amongst the strings – became barely noticeable. Eschenbach put his own subito piu mosso during sighing dyads making way into flute trios during the middle section – making such transition come across silly, mildly petulant this way. Fussiness over light gusts of wind between strings and woodwinds during first buildup to main theme turned the figuration into practically aural equivalent to watching protozoa swim about on slides under microscope – with DSO Berlin strings sounding nearly as thin as Houston’s, … i.e. how about Hans Neuenfels choreography for Tchaikovsky’s Francesca da Rimini?

Eschenbach again vehemently confused loudness for passion – hard at any rate to work up at his tempos. It is as though we might gain insight by having most of this piece taken apart to expose all its inner layers – except for their becoming often so muddied - so much found dying underneath in the mean time. The band-y cheap approximation of operatic overture accelerando at the very end, also ending this concert, did not convince. Vehemently loud slash of wind introducing restart of violent main section of this – unmistakable what it is on the live LSO/Markevitch disc from BBC – is such for which Eschenbach made such luftpausen’d reach - it resembled letting off … instead - quiet brief mourning then from good lower DSO brass.

Eschenbach had just convincingly worked up some heat, then overdoing it for final entrance of middle section theme in the violins only to sink everything by docking single pitches on DSO brass loudly as idea broadly siphons itself off - dead. Long delay had been made earlier through regretful sounding English horn commenting on pleasurable guilt of the two lovers, answered by well played harp arpeggios – but with both unsure of where to make cut-offs on back and forth exchange. Descending sunlight from flute trios playing repeat-chord (C Major) tremolo seemed to take very long to arrive.

Should your idea of Francesca da Rimini be one entirely physically disengaged from action Tchaikovsky graphically describes, Christoph Eschenbach is your man, forever likely shall be. I suppose one could get all absorbed too by standing all day in a Cy Twombly gallery to attempt engaging with the forces of nature, how they intermix with human passion. You just have to ask yourself – how much would you talk yourself into it?

BBC - BBC NOW, T Fischer. G Capucon. Probing Shostakovich Sixth central to program of crisply evoked Russian moods. Cardiff, Wales. 17.9.2010

Motivation not to miss this - season opener at St David's in Cardiff - was clear - the Shostakovich Seventh that became major highlight of the BBC Proms. This all-Russian program featured instead the Shostakovich Sixth Symphony – one of his best.

Mussorgsky's Night on Bare Mountain was first of two pieces on this program to conjure up the supernatural; with utmost simplicity Thierry Fischer and BBC National Orchestra of Wales caught it. Like Vladimir Jurowski at the Proms, Fischer opted for the Rimsky-Korsakov orchestration of this piece. Fischer's means, with the more smoothly executable orchestration of Rimsky-Korsakov to bring out much still remaining savagery was the simpler, less contrived - better, more clearly thought out than with Jurowski. Insistence on drier sonority than is perhaps norm with the more Romantic orchestration of this piece was just partly key, alongside bracing capture of the music's insistent rhythms. Under-girding of most animated, agitated passage-work was solid, supplying means by which orchestral voices above could find easy lift and bounce. Without needing extra boost or being worked in the least, the ferocity of this music spoke forth in fine relief. Strings opened lines in the tranquil epilogue to this piece with retiring stance, opening space for most expressive playing, handled limpidly by both flute and clarinet, answered by light harp arpeggios and bell tolling in the distance.

The diabolical frolic to open this program got immediately followed aristocratically by the Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations, played by Gautier Capucon. Most evident at first was the ease with which Thierry Fischer and his Welshmen picked up on the simplicity of the Romanticized classicism behind this piece. Some lingering over sub-phrase endings in the violins happened normally as expected. Gautier Capucon matched well at first, and with minimal bow pressure, with what was accompanying him – all with polished affectation of rustic air to the phrasing. With upbeat accent on octave jumping bassoon, concertato of winds starting interlude and also postlude to first variation had almost equally good say as did soloist, with fine lift over variation formed over long sequence of triplets, and forthright tone and direction for the second variation – well accompanied until hard push on concertato of concluding flutes. Expressive, supple shape was made of following C Major romanza with fine decoration to line from light winds, with soloist also deftly making long descent in triplets with fine staccati light, as verging on spiccato, anticipating full spiccato in brilliantly running up and down fingerboard for quasi-cadenza material in gently gavotte-step variation to follow.

Principal flute, making simple reprise of main theme, was excellent, over felicitous caprice from Capucon - some of it then beginning to sound worked and extending caprice a short ways into largamente transition to the slower melancholy D Minor variation. Capucon started this exaggeratedly soft, but with clarinet principal to match his tone in responding so very well. Final variation started dryly with good propulsion, but then with intruding rough negotiation of double-stops, octaves off ascending trills - making less confident conclusion to the Tchaikovsky than how things began. Faure's Elegie in C Minor, with dark tone, strong profile of its melancholy, nobly served as encore, with fine introspection from clarinet and oboe principals to supplement Capucon. Broad feel for transition to conclusion of this piece kept all mostly intact, overlooking some roughness for cadenza like passage therein.

Shostakovich’s Sixth comprised most of the second half. Fischer got some criticism for his Shostakovich Seventh at the Proms being a little too dry, perhaps even unfeeling – a little dry, yes, but the rest I did not sense. Here he has followed up with the Sixth. For someone not akin to the idiom, Fischer certainly chose a broad enough tempo for the opening Largo – similar very slow pace as Metzmacher took with San Francisco two seasons ago. Less controversially, Metzmacher caught the music’s Romantic overtones more fully than did Fischer - so for the opening Largo, it was Fischer who took the greater risk. Lean quality to the music-making, ascetic, even acerbic at certain junctures was striking - such that Fischer was able to sustain through quiet, almost entirely still spaces during especially the latter half of this opening Largo. Toward eventually making lean, arched shape of lengthy reach for first loud ending of a phrase, Fischer brought out of his violins fine glimmer of light, to avoid anything becoming too detached; violins became then both supple, distraught, plus lean, to sufficiently cap off the grand line.. Harmonic spelling of undulating horns under ascending winds toward second crest within such line was clear and firm, then naturally making space for violins to ruminatively break in with strands of the first theme, mostly the cadential ending to it, spinning out from there and so darkly echoed by lower winds with same manner of entering, over more filled out undulation in triplets.

Fischer marked very well episodic piccolo first theme reprise, making how well it delays more conclusive, incisive climax felt very well - with its descending trills from upon high over devastating interjection from brass and timpani. Remindful warning from full orchestra Fischer had frame, away from doleful English horn solo and duet between flute and bassoon to further comment, from expansive space made for lengthy flute cadenza over sustained quiet trill and tremolo. This was framed on other end by warm horns slowly and warmly marking single pitch dotted rhythm that marks opening of the first theme over octave trill to - avoiding banal overstatement - naturally gild them in celesta.

After long retransition violins then calmly, resolutely recapitulated the first theme - with as though all fire taken out of them. In answering comment by mourning low bassoon, strings made all spectral and anguished, febrile of their broad final line – all hovering beyond moment last chord has sounded with something definitely foreboding.

At decent Allegretto pace, solo high clarinet and flute circumspectly tossed off opening lines– supplemented by fine sense of naiveté. For elaborate development to ensue, Fischer made acute our catching his still ever fluid ear for the special language in which this music is written - a Shostakovich debt to Carl Nielsen. Wiry run in strings, making all sound precarious, spun off xylophone toward preparing curiously weightless brass in making half-trivial, ironic refrain to follow, that followed soon by very animatedly on purpose matter-of-fact dissembling flute and piccolo first theme and runs. Full climax to this maelstrom of a scherzo was just sufficiently regularly paced toward austerely provoked climax - while recalling, uncharacteristic for him, Metzmacher’s larger than life approach to same passage – opposite approach - with purposefully banal fugato to have preceded all this (under insistent repeat note tremolo in strings from both). All coming off then had a light, dissembling air to it - Fischer profiling quasi-glissando runs incisively in several winds, especially high clarinet and flute over great void. Capturing high endings to these helped make them resemble meteor showers or shooting stars on a cold, clear night, as though all untethered, ready to collapse over the void. Steady pulsation through the end, contextually helped make sense of pointed piccolo solo refrain framing conclusion to mad scherzo - with then all dissembling into thin air over insistent timpani.

Insistent trot to step, pulsation marked good light bounce and lift to opening lines of the final Presto. Very incisive winds paprika’d their off-beats marking second half of first subject to the fore, with their succeeding runs capping all off as off-kilter as Shostakovich wrote them. Fischer made stretto endings to it all very incisive and lean. Heavier dance in three Fischer also kept light, while avoiding turning it into resembling cheaper brand of Prokofieff. Danse macabre spinning out was instead striking, with raft of pitches in winds and brass unusually heard over firmly insistent and ominous intimations of D-S-C-H in brass and percussion. Reprise of opening to the finale surreptitiously made its way back in - deftly by concertmaster Lesley Hatfield in reply to doleful bassoon. The carnival-like coda to this had a very Circus Polka feel to it – with snarling brass in mid-ground underneath – with the dry sound, texture Fischer can favor, that final strands of this turned excessively brash on him. Fischer still had fine success with this Sixth - supplementing well the Seventh that so notably this year preceded it.

Revelation of an uncannily innate sense of how Rimsky-Korsakov’s music works made May Night Overture to open the second half an unqualified success here, to supplement altogether wholesome interpretations for so much of this program. Intimation of Weber’s Oberon on opening horn calls, answered so ardently amorously by languishing strings and winds, was rapt, even exotically so. Thierry Fischer revealed a special knack one associates with Russian conductors of more than fifty years ago, albeit they offered richer color, nuance than one can expect from Fischer. In development, mostly if not entirely reprise of especially lyrical subjects, extracted from two major duets of romantic interest during opera to follow, Fischer lent a transformative sense to how they recur, plus a piquant sense to woodwind then stern brass interjections.

Fischer’s way of making transition from often expansively lyrical ideas to vigorous dance-like conclusions and episodes just so independent thereof was very supple, as combining ardent line in cellos with divisi violins on dance rhythms right above not long before concluding the overture. All came to a conclusion that was very winningly both vigorous and fresh, rapt with color and febrile line, infused by (Ukranian) folk-like spirit - with dance rhythms especially. The vernal spirit, freshness of music to introduce the first and tbetter of Rimsky-Korsakov’s two far too neglected village operas Fischer met with ideal simplicity. This could have made a wonderful closing piece, parting shot - suffice it to say it opened an altogether fine second half.